The Ranger's Burden
by DeathDealer Inc
Summary: 500 years after the events of Ranger's Apprentice. The Araluen Empire continues to stand strong as nations around it fall into chaos. As times change and new threats reveal themselves, the Imperial Rangers stand in the dark, ready to defend their nation. One such Ranger Kragen, feared for his ruthless and efficient nature, now passes the torch to a young girl with her own damages
1. Shade, Apprentice Ranger

Beo, Captain of the Imperial Rangers, looked between his subordinate and the small girl he had brought in with skeptical eyes. He had long been wanting Kragen to take up an apprentice. Kragen was one of his most effective agents, if not the most effective that he had ever worked with, and it only made sense for someone like him to take up an apprentice in the hopes of multiplying on the benefit of his service.

But when he looked at the small girl brought before him by said agent, he wondered, not for the first time, if there was something disturbingly wrong in Kragen's mind.

"You are certain about this?"

"Yes." Kragen said simply, straight to the point as always when dealing with Ranger business.

"Might I ask why?" Beo said, kneeling in front of the girl. She continued to stare straight ahead, as if he wasn't there, her eyes devoid of any emotion or humanity. She seemed, for all intents and purposes, dead to the world around her. A shell. "Unresponsive to emotional stimuli. Anti-social. Untrained. A street urchin that nobody's heard of. What makes you think she has the makings of a ranger?"

"This is who I have selected."

Beo stood up again, "I gave you a list. You did read it, didn't you? Everyone on that list was qualified; from prestigious backgrounds, most of them had prior experience or feats, all of them more than willing to learn under you. Why would you choose a girl straight off the street? Where did you even say you found her?"

"I didn't." He replied. Ever since bringing the emotionless girl in, he had remained strictly closed lipped on her origins. "As for your list, I read it and found it lacking."

"Lacking? They possess all the qualities of a potential ranger."

"Indeed. All of them could be apprentices. But none of them can be _my_ apprentice." Kragen replied, "They have too many connections. Too much history. Too many attachments. Each of them has a past, dreams of their own, loved ones, personal responsibilities, emotional ties. _Distractions._ I need someone who's commitment to the Empire is absolute, who has no sense of self to be attached to and can devote themselves entirely to their responsibilities. I will accept nothing less."

Beo chewed his lip, "In other words, you want another you. And you think this girl matches that?"

Kragen placed a hand on the girl's head. A gesture that would normally be seen as affectionate, if not for her complete lack of response and the complete detachment with which he treated her, "The girl is broken. Nothing left of the life she used to have. Nobody cares about her, nobody loves her, nobody wants her. She's alone, and dead. She can be built from the ground up to be whatever the Araluen Empire needs her to be. That is a ranger. More specifically, that is _my_ ranger."

"So, you want her specifically because she's broken."

"Basically."

Beo sighed, "...Kragen, there's something wrong with you."

The ranger waved away his concern, "So you've said. So you conveniently forget whenever the empire requires my service."

"Very well. I'll put it in the logs that you have an apprentice. What's her name?"

"The only name she had died with her old life."

"Well we need to call her something. 'Dead girl' won't fit in the logs. What are you going to call her?"

Kragen looked at the girl, "...Shade."

* * *

 _ **The year if 432 Imperius. After the untimely death of Ranger Madelyn, the kingdom of Araluen was left without an heir. Civil war broke out soon after and lasted decades. In the end, the throne was won by the military factions of the kingdom, establishing a new ruling family. Lead by King Beinfult, a previous general of the Araluen army, and Queen Archana, a previous Ranger, a new age of expansion began for the small, now more militarily minded kingdom. The new ruling family began waging massive conflicts against their neighbors, assimilating large amounts of land and resources to support the weakened state. Their fierce military tactics hardened over decades of civil war allowed them to conquer the island. Once the island was under complete domination of the Araluen nation, the originally small kingdom announced itself to the world as the first true Empire.**_

 _ **Beginning a new calendar, the Araluen Empire continued war efforts across the sea, however found foreign colonization much more difficult than conquest. By the year 107 Imperius, the nation found itself incredibly weakened over periods of failed conquests, and became subject to invasion by foreign powers. The next century would be spent attempting to desperately hold onto the fledgling empire that they had barely begun, losing and regaining land regularly. Eventually, however, their defensive strategies managed to outlast the offensive capabilities of their many enemies, and the state of the nation began looking prosperous.**_

 _ **In the year 212 Imperius, the rule passed into the far more gentle hands of Empress Evangeline, who would go down in history as Evangeline the Rebuilder. Having spent her young adult years as the governess of the Redmont territory, Evangeline understood the necessity of strong infrastructure and a stable government. She dedicated the previously military minded resources towards instead rebuilding what had been destroyed in the decades of conflict, negotiating peace with the also war-weary nations of the east, and built the empire into a stable nation that could be respected. While unpopular with the traditional nobility, the policies of Empress Evangeline gained her the love and support of the citizenry, her willingness to make peace with foreign powers made her popular among the merchant lords, and her dedication to maintaining strong defences earned her the loyalty of the military. Most importantly, she reinstituted the Rangers, who had lost influence over the many centuries due to their reduced numbers and shady reputation, as loyal and effective servants of the crown. The Imperial Rangers worked in the shadows as the Empress' hand, carrying out her will and the will of the Empire from the dark.**_

 _ **Empress Evangeline the Rebuilder would diligently teach her children the requirements of ruling, and long after her passing the Araluen Empire would remain a force to be reckoned with, its will unquestionable all across the continent.**_

 _ **Now, the year is 432 Imperius, under the hand of Emperor Deacon. The Emperor has continued to maintain a strong and sustainable nation state, just as each of his predecessors. Now, however, Emperor Deacon's eyes turn eastward. While the island on which the Araluen Empire stands has remained stable under a single leadership, the nations of the mainland have continued to fight and struggle amongst themselves, and Emperor Deacon sees opportunity to once again extend the empire's will to new lands…**_

* * *

 _Become nothing. Become dead to the world. Become invisible and erase your breath. See only the goal, reject all distractions. Banish all emotion. Banish all morals. See only the objective, and strike._

Shade repeated her master's teachings in her mind as she slid across the ground through the dense forests. She forced herself to erase any sense of self, any emotion, any ambition.

Not that it ever came difficult for her.

Her frame of mind established, she made her way towards her objective at a snail's pace, never moving faster than a cm/second. Eventually, her target came into view. The hooded man sat on a small stump, sharpening his blade. His cloak blended with the background, but she knew what to look for. Shade had a perfect view of him from her lowered position, and once she had a clear view, she slowly slid her way into a standing position from behind a tree. From behind her tree, Shade silently retrieved her hand crossbow from her bag, loading the sedative into place. With her bow unstrung, the hand crossbow was the best backup for a ranger caught in a tight space. With both arrows and sedatives for non-lethal takedowns, it wouldn't generate enough power to get distance or pierce armor but it was a valid enough backup plan for situations such as this one.

With her weapon ready, Shade peaked around from behind the tree, only to discover her target moved. She scanned the area, looking for any sign of him, before she felt a blow to the back of her head against the tree she had been using for cover. Her vision blurred from the impact to her cranium and she felt herself fall to the ground.

"Mission failed." Her master said coldly to her from his standing position, and turned his back on her, leaving without waiting for a moment. Shade spit out the blood that had formed in her mouth and forced herself to stand and follow him out of the forest.

Those words, 'mission failed,' hurt her to the very core. She held onto that hurt, dedicated it to memory. Next time, when she remembered that hurt, that pure sense of failure and worthlessness, she wouldn't make a mistake. Steeling herself, she followed her master onto the snow covered paths of the Picta province.

After finishing her initial training, as her master had called it, he decided that she would need practical experience before he was willing to continue. He had taken her to the frost covered forests a year ago, home to brigands and barbarians that the empire had never been able to completely ferret out due to their ability to navigate the cold, inhospitable groves that dominated the area. They had built a small home from the ground up in what had seemed like the most savage of the area, and set to work 'civilizing' the natives through guerrilla tactics and ruthless executions.

They had arrived a year ago, and now it was rare for them to go from one edge of the forest to the other and see any action at all. As a test, he had bribed a prostitute a great sum to walk through the forests in her undergarments, ensuring her protection when in reality the two of them would simply wait on the other side of the forest, leaving her alone. The test was to see if anyone dared approach her when nobody was watching, and when she came out the other side unscathed, her master decided that either there were no brigands left or the certainty of retaliation from the empire was enough to scare them into submissiveness. Either way, their work was done.

Now, on their last day in the Picta regions, her master decided an initial test had been in order to gauge how much work would be needed over the next few years.

He had found the results lacking.

"Do you know what it was?" he asked her after they had walked some distance and he had given her time to think about where she messed up

"The hand crossbow," she replied, "The crank was too loud. You stopped sharpening your knife after the first click, I should have noticed then. I should have used a blowdart."

"Why didn't you?"

"I was tired after the crawl and didn't trust my lungs. I'll need to continue my breathing techniques so that I have more confidence in my ability to generate the wind power after periods of physical exertion."

Her master didn't reply. That made her feel better. If he had replied, it would have been to correct her. The fact that he was silent mean she had been completely on the mark.

After a year of living in the wilderness, Shade had been somewhat unprepared for civilization when they finally returned to within the city walls. Mostly she just stayed near her master, keeping an eye on the many people rushing this way and that, paying no mind to the two of them. As far as anyone was concerned, they were simply a hunter and his daughter. There was only three people in the Picta province that knew who they really were. The governor, the local Imperial Ranger, and said Ranger's apprentice.

The latter two were the ones standing in front of them when they approached the governor's building.

"Kragen. I was beginning to think the two of you might have died out there." Ranger Hamelt said lightheartedly. Her master had said everyone wore a mask; if that was true, than Hamelt's mask was one of gleefulness and friendly gestures. There were few moments when he did not appear happy with someone. His apprentice had been more shy the first time she had seen him, but it appeared that over the past year he had begun to pick up on his master's habits.

"We finished doing your job for you. The forests should be clear for the next few months until they realize we're not around anymore." Her own master responded grimly; if everyone wore a mask, then her master wore one of coldness and detachment, though from what she had seen it was either a mask that he rarely, if ever took off, or not a mask. "You'll want to double up on patrols in that area, and crucify a brigand on the trees every couple weeks if you want things to stay peaceful in the forests."

"I'll take it into consideration," said Ranger Hamelt with an almost indulgent tone

Shade's attention was torn from the conversation when Hamelt's apprentice addressed her, "So what was it like living in the forests all that time?" Imshael asked with genuine sincerity

"Cold." She replied

"Oh...did you meet any brigands?"

"Several. Most of them we killed, the others I helped my master crucify as a fear tactic." Imshael's curious smile immediately fell. Having successfully dissuaded him from asking any further irritating questions, she turned her attention back to the conversation between their masters.

Hamelt seemed amused by the event, "I see you've been teaching her well."

"Someone has to teach the next generation," her master replied, "We came to tell you that we'll be leaving the Picta province. We're heading back to Redmont."

"I see. Should I schedule a carriage?"

"No need. We can walk."

"I wish you safe travels, old friend."

Her master nodded and turned. That was her cue to do the same.

"Uhm, Shade?" she heard the young apprentice's voice, "...Safe travels."

"Hmm." She grunted back to him and followed her master

Young Imshael sighed when they were well out of earshot, then felt Hamelt's hand brush his hair, "What's wrong?"

"I just...is there something wrong with Shade?"

Hamelt shrugged, "Probably. She's a mystery, that's for sure. Kragen pulled her out of nowhere and refused to spill a thing about her origin, so she's obviously got some kind of damage. And time with him wouldn't do well for anybody, so she's definitely not had the easiest childhood."

"...That's really sad."

"Yeah, well, I'm sure it will work itself out in the end. She's got her whole life ahead of her. You don't need to worry about her, pal. Be realistic, how bad can things really get for a person like her?"

* * *

 **This is a message from the chief executive of DeathDealer Inc. Ranger's Burden is a story that takes place 500 years after the events of the original series with new protagonists, same world but with some obvious aging. Now, I plan to release chapters as I finish them, which seeing as how I am an incredibly slow worker already, on top of the fact that I'm already working on two other fics and a text-based game, and about to go to college should all probably tell you a little something about what you can expect from the release schedule.**

 **I do hope you will at least consider following the progress of Ranger's Burden to see how the story of Shade and her master Kragen pan out in the new world of the Araluen Empire. Please follow, favorite and review, and obviously try not to die today.**


	2. Return to Redmont

There was a steady transition of snowy fields to green and lively grass as they traveled further south. The change in environment showed in the attitudes of the towns in which they rested. Here in the heartlands of the empire, the general populace didn't have as much fear from bandits or savage animals. For the most part, the biggest threat to their health was taxes.

"Wait here while I pay," her master had instructed her outside the inn where they had stayed the previous night. She nodded, leaning against the doorframe, patiently scanning her environment in an unconscious self-defense routine, making note of any figures coming toward her. It was the standard practice whenever she was ordered to wait somewhere, and she often did it even when no order had come simply out of habit. She couldn't understand how these other people would allow themselves to lower their guard in an area filled with strangers. It was one of many things that her master said she would probably never understand but have to accept about other people.

"Excuse me?" At some point, a young boy around her age approached her. He didn't seem afraid of her like most people she had met, which she found strange until she remembered that they had stored their signature cloaks in their travel bags in order to blend in with the general population, "Are you new here?"

"Passing through." She replied, as she saw no benefit to lying to him. The child was clearly non-hostile to her, in fact he was being openly warm and friendly. She supposed this was what a normal child looked like

"Oh, will you be staying awhile? Me and my friends-"

"I won't be." She said before he could begin an explanation. She already had a general idea of what the child wanted and was not interested. With that knowledge, she saw no reason to continue conversing and hoped he would see the same.

The boy seemed discouraged yet Shade had a feeling he might have kept talking anyway, had her master not come out from the inn. He stopped outside and looked between the two of them, his steely gaze forcing the child to shrink off. "Who was that?"

"No one."

Her master seemed content with that. She had a general knowledge of how people viewed her master and their relationship, but one thing about him that she would always be grateful for was that he trusted her absolutely. After hearing her report, he simply nodded without any further investigation, "We're going."

She followed his lead, steadily creating distance between themselves and the town. It was only when they were outside of visual range that he spoke to her again, "We're going to an old ranger shack here in Redmont. It's been abandoned for some time and has fallen into disrepair. You'll help me rebuild it, and there is where we'll be stationed for the near foreseeable future while we continue with your training. Five years from now you'll be capable of killing me."

"If I'm not?"

"You'll probably be dead."

Shade understood. It wasn't a threat, just a statement of the facts. He had told her very early on that retired Rangers were a dying breed. With the Emperor's new expansionist policies, Rangers were being placed in more perilous positions than they ever had in the recent past. Enforcing his will was much easier in areas where Ranger authority was respected and feared. Doing so in the lands overseas and uncivilized territories was much trickier. Thus, she would either become a great Ranger capable of overtaking her own master, or she would die.

Soon they came upon a forest, thick with wildlife and vegetation. Unlike the hostile nature of the forest she had spent the past year in, this place was clearly meant to support life. It was a friendlier side to nature than she was used to. The welcoming feeling that she got from it made her uneasy. Hostile and cold forces she could understand, she found the open disdain comforting as it gave her a clear idea of where they stood, but an entity displaying warmth and affection was a wildcard.

It was likely due to this natural uneasiness that she was able to easily pick up on the human sounds originating from the nearby bushes. Looking through her peripheral vision, she clearly saw the glint of sunlight bouncing off of steel.

Shade coughed exactly one time into her hand, as part of a pre-arranged system of non-verbal communication with her master. " _We're not alone."_

Her master scratched behind his right ear, " _I saw them."_ He followed up the signal by fidgeting his hands. " _Stand by."_

So she continued as ordinary, not giving any indication that she was aware of their stalkers. It did not take long before they showed the courtesy of revealing themselves. Two in front, one behind. Their clothes were ragged, and the knives each one held was dull from frequent use. It was clear that these weren't professionals of any sort, most likely bandits just getting their start. Clearly not intelligent for trying to do something like this on public roads. Intelligent criminals always knew that the roads were strictly off limits; if the Imperial Guard ever learned you or your gang was committing banditry on the roads, they reserved the absolute worst form of execution for you. Roadside banditry was on par with rape and murder due to how vital the road system was to the sustainability of the Empire, and obstructing them in any form was treated as an act of terror against the Empire itself.

Even the slightest possibility of capture was enough to discourage most intelligent bandits. Meaning the people they were dealing with were clearly not intelligent.

"We'll be taking whatever you have in those bags," One from the front snapped at her master

"Hmm," He looked over the three of them, "Young. You haven't been at this for very long. Do your parents know you're out?"

The original speaker's face contorted into an offended expression. Add low self-esteem to the list of weaknesses. "Really? We have you surrounded and you're going to insult us, old man?"

"You're right, it was foolish of me to bother. You insult yourselves easily enough."

"You know what, we were going to let you go, but now I think we'll just gut you!"

Shade felt a hand grip onto her right arm, pulling her harshly and forcing her to regain her balance, "Maybe we should take your daughter. How does that sound to you?"

Her master looked back at him, then at her. He looked her straight in the eyes, and then closed his. _1...2...3..._

 _Eyes closed for exactly three seconds._

 _Kill…_

Shade let the knife hidden in her left sleeve slip into her hand. She turned inward toward her attacker, plunging the small blade straight into his heart before he could understand what was happening. Then, retracting and flipping it around in her hand to hold it by the blade, she threw the knife into the neck of one of the front attackers.

With two down in less than five seconds, the last one remaining ran at her with his knife, his vision falling off of her master. Suddenly her master was standing in front of him with his knife extended outward. The bandit ran right into it, impaling himself and collapsing lifelessly onto the ground.

They immediately checked their surroundings, on the look-out for anyone who might have been with them, hiding in the brush in case things didn't go as planned, but the forest was silent. Until they heard the gurgling of a man choking on his own blood, drawing their attention to the man with the knife lodged in his neck.

Her master looked at her. "Four centimeters too low." He told her. Shade looked down in shame; sure, right now it didn't make much difference, but if she had been trying to preserve her cover then the noise he was making would alert any nearby hostiles. A kill needed to be quick and clean, otherwise it was worthless. A true Ranger accomplished nothing less.

She committed this lesson to memory.

Her master calmly walked over the dying man and knelt down, "You know what, we were going to let you go," he echoed the words back to the young fool, before placing his gloved hand over the man's mouth and nose, smothering his source of oxygen and leaving him flailing around on the ground until he finally simply lied back. Dead.

"I want you to wake up early tomorrow to clean this up, assuming the wildlife haven't eaten them by then," he told her, "We can't have bodies on the road to our home, and it would be too bothersome to report this to the guard."

"How do I dispose of them?"

"Right, I forgot I haven't taught you that yet. For now, just drag them into the forest where they're out of sight, with luck the wildlife with take care of them for us. If they're still around after a few days, I'll show you how to dispose of them properly."

He stood up and continued walking as if nothing had happened, indicating a need to move on. Looking up, she saw the sun beginning to set in the distance and realized the need to hurry.

When the cabin finally came into sight, she didn't think much of it. The hut was run down, several collapses in the infrastructure and walls decayed from centuries of neglect, and the nearby stable wasn't in much better condition. She could see at a glance why the place had been abandoned for so long, she couldn't see what even a Ranger could do with it. It offered the opposite of protection against the elements and any defensive capabilities the old ruin might have had once were long made useless.

"Be mindful. You're standing on historical ground," said her master, "Two of the most famous Rangers in history lived here, back when Araluen was still a fledgling kingdom. If not for them, there wouldn't be an Araluen today, and we'd be no better than the savages across the sea. If you're going to be a Ranger someday, you need to have a good understanding of our history."

"Who were they?"

"One was named Halt, we know that for certain. The other is a bit harder to pinpoint. We know his first name was Will, but there were a few Rangers with that name and record keeping back then was less than superb, even if there hadn't been a civil war."

"If they were talented, shouldn't they have kept themselves out of the history texts?"

"Hmm, there's truth to that," he said with a hint of amusement, only a hint though, "A famous Ranger is a bit of an oxymoron, but sometimes one can't really help it. When you get results, people tend to take notice whether you want them to or not." He dropped his travel bag in front of the ruin, "I'm going to go to Redmont keep to make contact with the headquarters there. When I return we'll begin patching this place up and making it livable again. I want tents pitched, a well dug, a fire pit made, and an archery course set up and practiced on by the time I get back."

Shade nodded, committing everything he had listed to memory. After confirming her understanding, her master simply walked back down the path he came.

Now alone, Shade looked over the work ahead of her. Given the distance between the hut and Redmont and what he'll be doing there, she could estimate that she had a day and a half before he returned. The well would be a challenge, but given the forest environment she shouldn't have to dig further than 10ft in order to find water. If she pitched the tent, cleaned up the bodies down the road, and built the fire pit that night, then she could dedicate the whole next day to the well, and the archery range that night if she didn't sleep.

A plan in mind, she went to work without hesitation.


	3. Mistress of Pleasures

Redmont was exactly the same as Kragen remembered it. The largest city in the Empire next to the capital itself, Redmont pretty much embodied the Empire itself. Ridiculous landmass with cultures and ethnicities from all over, an efficient and well-trained guard, lots of taxes, and at the top of it all, wall after wall of bureaucratic nonsense.

Moving around became more and more difficult the closer to the center of the city you went. A Ranger's Badge got him through any checkpoint he wanted, so he was spared the majority of it, though he still needed to wait ten minutes at each stop while they verified he was the real thing. Not so bad when it's just one, but the city was massive and between the outer gate and the keep in the center of it all, he had to pass through around 12 checkpoints with a 'brief' stop at every single one of them.

Then when you reached the upper cities, they required a permit or a letter of intent just to walk around. A Ranger's Badge was better than any permit, but it didn't help that due to his hermit appearance he was stopped no less than eight times for a 'random check.' It got to the point where he was instinctively pulling out his badge every time he heard someone speak in his general direction.

 _Civilization at last…_ Kragen thought bitterly to himself, missing the simplicity of forest life. It was no wonder the more rebellious citizens of the Empire preferred to live in hamlets outside the city despite the lack of safe city walls around them.

Before he wouldn't have minded so much. He was a patient man, he could wait out anything. But ever since taking the girl into his care, he learned quickly to get a move on whenever he left her alone anywhere. Without orders, the girl quickly became confused and cripplingly unsure of her next move, to the point where self-preservation wasn't even a factor in her mind.

The memory of the first time he went into town was still burned into his mind. Early in their training, while she was still learning how to hold a bow, he'd told her he would be taking a trip into town and be gone for about a week, and that she should practice with her bow until she never missed while he was gone.

He was in the city for four days before he realized he'd forgotten something important back at the shack, and doubled back. He found the girl collapsed on the archery range. She'd been practicing the entire time he was gone, never taking a break for anything, not even basic necessities like eating or drinking. And the most disturbing part, when he had brought her back from the brink of death, the first thing she did upon waking up was look at him with those empty eyes. " _I'm sorry, master...I still miss every now and then…"_

There was no doubt in his mind that if he hadn't come back early, she would have died on that archery field. All because he hadn't ordered her to stay alive.

It was the first time during their training that he got a firm grasp of what he'd agreed to when he promised to take her on as his apprentice. Even still, he couldn't go back on it, not after everything that had been sacrificed for her.

" _Promise me...if there was ever a part of you that cared for anyone, promise me you'll care for her…"_

He couldn't exactly back out. So he made a point right then and there to order the girl to preserve herself if she ever felt she was about to die. That seemed to fix the problem, and the next time he went out (this time for a significantly shorter period of time) she seemed to obey the order to take care of herself. But he still didn't like leaving the girl alone for any period of time in case she suddenly forgot that order.

"Kragen. Has it been a year already?"

After an hour of waiting in the governor's hall, he was finally received by the most senior Ranger in the area assigned with the management of all Rangers in the Redmont province. He remembered hearing about a time back in the days of the Araluen Kingdom that they had restricted themselves to 99 Rangers at any given time. He remembered thinking that if that's all they had, it was no wonder the kingdom fell into chaos.

With the size of the Empire there was just too much land for 99 Rangers to cover, and each province was more populated than it had been all those centuries ago, so good old Empress Evangeline, when she reinstated the Rangers, wisely did away with that limit on their numbers and typically had four or five Rangers assigned to a province at any given time with the most senior Ranger being in charge of their coordination. Having an abundance of highly trained secret police operatives in each province was probably the only reason the Empire hadn't collapsed in on itself. The Rebuilder herself said as much in her diaries during the final days of her reign.

"Morgen. So they put you in charge. What happened to Herendel?"

"She died, I'm afraid," said Morgen, "Mysterious thing. From the look of the scene, it appeared to be roadside bandits, but that doesn't seem too likely to me."

Kragen nodded, "Any bandit stupid enough to attack the roads couldn't possibly kill a skilled Ranger. Who do you have investigating."

"Her apprentice, Djak. Though now that you're here, I think I might just give you and your girl the job, make sure you're still sharp."

"Until you're certain, I'll be renovating the old Ranger's hut in the forest."

Morgen's eyes betrayed an expression of surprised amusement, "That relic? Kragen, the building should have been condemned long ago, why not just get a house in the city closer to the station?"

"I like my privacy. Me and my apprentice will be making it livable again, the only reason I came here was to tell you where we are."

"I wish you well on your way, then. Give my love to the girl."

"You can keep it. She needs strength, not love."

Morgen scratched his head as Kragen marched out of the keep. _I was only kidding..._

* * *

The light of the early morning sun hit Shade's eyes, silently commanding her awake. Groggily she complied, her eyes slowly opening in response. She lied there for a moment, an instinct from the training from her master to gather her thoughts and take note of her surroundings before awakening.

As she awoke, she saw the stains on the bag she'd been using as a pillow and reached up to wipe the tears from her eyes that had leaked through while she was unconscious.

It had been this way for as long as she could remember. Her master had been bewildered at first, waking her up every time she went to sleep. That was when she learned that she cried in her sleep. She also always woke up with an incredibly sad feeling, like she'd remembered something horrible but forgot whenever she regained consciousness, that stayed with her all morning. She supposed that feeling was the reason she always cried.

It hardly mattered. Once her master realized that it wasn't going to stop, he learned to live with it. According to him, she was still able to sleep silently and inconspicuously, so it didn't make a difference if she had to wipe her eyes whenever she woke up. As long as she could do her job effectively, he could make a Ranger out of her yet.

That was always the goal. To be a Ranger was the only path she had ever known. When she was conscious, anything before her master was nonexistent. She didn't have a memory of whatever she might have been before, and she didn't care. There was no option other than becoming a Ranger.

After washing her face, Shade picked up the shovel she had set aside by the tent and immediately went to work on the spot she had selected before going to sleep the previous night. A place just a bit away from the shack and a couple yards into the forest where the water would be the most concentrated under the ground. It had taken effort to resist just starting right away before she remembered her master's orders to sleep whenever she felt like she was about to collapse. She rationalized that if she collapsed, she would remain unconscious for a really long time and thus be unable to complete her objectives, and so prioritized the previous order to take care of herself. Now fully rested, Shade was able to get right to work.

* * *

No matter the state of a nation, there were always going to be places that never seemed to catch a glimpse of the supposed prosperity that the rest of them enjoyed. These slums and back-street alleys were pretty much the same no matter how bright the future looked for everyone else. It was a hard life for the people of the lower districts, shoved off to the side to live in the shadow of Redmont. He sympathized, not that he had any idea of what should be done about it.

Ordinarily he only came by this area on business to speak with his network of informants and allies that he had accumulated over the years, and this time was no exception. That said, there was one person here he could go to for a pleasant conversation every now and then, and coincidently that was exactly who he had business with.

Though street prostitution had been outlawed decades ago, the Emperor at the time had left it perfectly legal to practice the profession in special taverns and inns owned and run by someone with a license. Made it much easier for the guard to regulate, making it safer for both clients and workers. He wouldn't say the girls there were necessarily happy with their lives, or that they had any better options available to them, and in the outskirts of the Empire where power was less centralized you still heard of pretty gruesome abuses going on every now and then. But it was certainly better than no regulation at all. As far as he was concerned, it was better for the girls involved to only lead mostly miserable lives instead of completely awful.

Luckily the madam of The Red Tiger, a long-time informant and acquaintance of his, was a lot kinder than she was legally obligated to be. He never heard any complaints about her, not even through his network, and her business was _just_ luxurious enough to attract noblemen who didn't want to be spotted at the classier establishments in uptown so he frequently found himself going to her for information on the goings-on with the nobility during his stay in Redmont. It would be an insult to the woman if he didn't take the time to inform her that he had returned.

Plus, he had a favor to call in.

Shoving through the light crowd of men trying really hard to avoid being looked at, he made his way to the front counter where a petite woman with frost-like hair poured drinks preemptively. She noticed him only a few seconds after he'd been standing in front of her.

"Can I help you…" She began to ask in a soft and adorable voice, no doubt trained over years of practice, before she dropped the act mid-sentence upon seeing his face, "R-Ranger Kragen...is that you?"

"Not so loud, I'm not a Ranger right now. Just someone who wants to see the madam." He had no idea how she knew who he was when he couldn't remember her face at all. He came here semi-frequently a year ago, but he remembered everyone he talked to and she certainly hadn't been working at the time.

"O-Of course, I'll fetch her at once, sir!" She said overenthusiastically and ran off, leaving the drinks she'd been pouring for some other client half filled. He was still scratching his mind trying to figure out where they'd met when she came back, "Right in the back room, sir, I'll show you the way!"

"Thanks," he said, tossing a gold coin to her

Her eyes widened at the sight of it, "This is...it's too much…"

"Keep it, I have fifty just like it back home," A gold coin meant very little to him given a Ranger's salary, but for her it probably meant months of work. If he was going to take the effort to tip, he might as well tip well or nothing at all.

"Thank you, sir…" She said in barely a whisper, before suddenly remembering her job and slowly guiding him to a back room. When she opened the door, he saw the old friend lying on her couch with the same arrogant pose she had a year ago sipping a small glass of red wine.

"Ranger Kragen. It's good to see you."

"Madam Lutrice. You got old." He stepped inside, taking a seat opposite her, "You can leave now, girl." He told the young one who had been standing by the doorway with doe-like eyes before his voice snapped her out of it and she hastily left, shutting the door behind her, "Have you been telling stories about me?"

"What, you don't remember Ophelia?"

 _So that's her name._ "Can't say I do."

"Really? She remembers you quite well, isn't shy about it either, she talks about you to anyone who has ears to listen. You don't know anything about saving a girl and her father in the back alleys from three armed thugs?"

"Sounds like a typical weekend."

Madam Lutrice chuckled, "Well, kindly don't tell her that. You'd break the poor girl's heart. So, Kragen, tell me what has you here after a year away? Business or pleasure?"

"Business."

"A shame, I've so missed our conversations," she cooed, "What can the beloved Mistress of Pleasures tell you?"

"For starters, nobody actually calls you that," he pointed out, "And I wanted to reestablish our previous arrangement. I'll be staying in a hut in the forest, send any information you find that way. I assume the previous price will suffice."

"It will. I appreciate the new source of income, maybe I'll even be able to increase my girls' wages."

"To start off, why don't you tell me anything you can about the murder of Ranger Herendel."

Lutrice scowled, "Bad business, that. Word was that the girl was starting to stick her nose in places that very important people didn't want her to. No warnings seemed to drive her off so these individuals were forced to use less...elegant means of silencing her."

"A Ranger is answerable only to the Emperor himself, no other authority can bind us. Who was foolish enough to think they could scare her off?"

"What fool indeed." She said, taking a long sip of her wine before continuing, "Someone who obviously paid more importance to their station than actually existed. If only we knew someone like that…"

Realization dawned on him, "Lorias."

Governor Lorias had been a pain in his side for a long time. After being appointed to Redmont, he seemed determined to test every boundary to see what he could get away with. Turns out a lot, when nobody is willing to call you out on it. The only people with authority over governors were Rangers, and the Emperor himself. While the governor still had to follow the Emperor's laws, it wasn't difficult for a governor to intercept any soldiers trying to report him to the highest authority, so the only ones who could effectively keep them in line were Rangers. Usually this was enough, but every now and then you got a fool like Lorias, glorified clerks raised to a station they didn't deserve and who just refused to quit pushing for more power.

"What could Herendel have uncovered about Lorias that was worth killing her for?"

"That I'm not sure of, but it must have been big. Killing a Ranger is no easy feat, and a fool's errand. Fail, and the Ranger kills you. Succeed, and every other Ranger kills you."

"He's dead alright, but not before I figure out whatever Herendel did. I don't intend to walk into this blind, I can't afford to die just yet."

"Finally find your sense of self-preservation? You must be getting old, the Ranger Kragen I knew would go straight to the good governor's office and start cutting off fingers until a name fell out."

"You're not exactly a youthful sprite yourself. It's fifty this year, isn't it? I hope you left me something in your will."

"Hmm, something tells me I'll be long outliving you. Man like you doesn't know how to stay out of the crosshairs of dangerous people. I might leave something for that little girl of yours, she's always been so polite."

"That actually brings us around to the _other_ reason I came by," he said, "I want you to train Shade."

The madam raised an eyebrow, "Isn't that supposed to be your job?"

"It is, and I am, but there are certain things that I can't teach her that you are well equipped to. A Ranger needs to utilize every tool available to them."

Lutrice sighed, "What is she, twelve?"

"She would have been married by now if she hadn't joined the Rangers, and I've seen younger around here," said Kragen, "Besides, you can't afford to be picky in espionage. We use whatever tools are most appropriate to complete our goal, and we don't gawk at the sacrifices."

"Even when those sacrifices are a young girl's purity? Her innocence?"

 _If you only knew..._ "Whatever purity she had was robbed from her, along with her innocence. I'm not going to protect what doesn't exist, that's not my job. My job is to turn her into a Ranger. Nothing more."

Lutrice sighed, "I forgot how cold you could be..."

"Will you do it?"

"What exactly do you want me to teach her?"

"Whatever might prove useful on the job."

"I get to chose?"

"You're the expert on the subject, I don't know enough to tell you how to train her. Just don't try to make money by having her 'practice' with your clients. She's a Ranger, not a worker."

"Just what kind of bottom feeder do you think I am?" Lutrice scowled, "I'll teach her the same as I teach all my girls. I assume that'll suffice."

"Fine, just remember what she'll be using it for." He stood up and turned for the door, "She's an infiltrator and information gatherer, not a street worker. Keep that in mind when teaching her how to apply her tactics."

"You sure you can't stay awhile? Ophelia's been dying to meet you. You could probably make her day very special."

"I'll think about it," he lied, "I need to get back to the girl. She gets nervous without orders to follow."

"So now you care about her? You're going to have to make up your mind one of these days."

Kragen didn't dignify that with a response. He went on his way, leaving the self-proclaimed 'Mistress of Pleasures' to put together a lesson plan


	4. Learning to Smile

Shade was still constructing the archery course by the time her master returned in the middle of the night ahead of schedule. His stern eyes looked over the half-done work before settling on her.

"Where'd you put the bodies?"

"100 yards into the forest, that direction," she pointed into the forest

"Finish the course then take a break. I'll check on them."

Shade nodded, ignoring the aching feeling in her chest and turned back to the task at hand. Mentally she was harshly berating herself for being so slow. If she had worked just a bit faster, she might have finished a couple hours ago. Instead, she had allowed her master to arrive ahead of schedule and see her as a failure. Another mistake.

Little did she know that just a few yards away, Kragen breathed a sigh of relief at arriving when he did. He could tell from the bags under her eyes that the girl had worked through all of last night. She was likely exhausted, but too dedicated to her task to acknowledge it. While there wasn't any humanity left in her, that was still a human body. Human bodies needed rest in order to function properly like any machine.

The Empire had no use for a tool that was determined to break itself.

When he came upon the bodies of the roadside bandits, he found them already decomposing. The girl had found a hollowed out tree to stuff them in, and the bodies were being deconstructed by it, their sustenance feeding it and slightly accelerating the decomposition process.

 _For a first attempt, it's not bad._ He thought to himself, _I suppose the body disposal lesson will have to wait for another time. Not much to improve here._

When he returned, she was patiently waiting on a broken off part of the hut, standing at attention when he came into sight

"Sit back down," he ordered her, "I distinctly remember telling you a long time ago to sleep when you're tired."

"...I wanted to complete the task you had given me before you returned."

"Then you should have worked faster, not sacrificed basic self-preservation in the hopes of gaining more time," he scolded her, and took a seat next to her and handed her a can of rations, "Eat. You'll need the strength for what comes next."

"What are we going to do?"

"In order to start rebuilding the house we'll need to clear away the rubble. Your muscles aren't developed enough, so you'll be practicing archery while I do that." He took a drink of his cantine, "Did you sleep at all while I was gone?"

"Night before last night," she replied

"Were you alright? Did you have bad dreams?"

"Probably. No different than every other night though."

Kragen didn't respond. As far as he was aware, the girl had no memory of what happened before he took her as an apprentice, as part of some sort of memory block. Whatever she remembered when she slept, she forgot when she woke up again. Fortunate for him, since if she knew what she had been through, she would probably hate him for the rest of her life. If she didn't already.

"Tomorrow, I'm taking you into town. There's a woman I want you to meet. Now that you're turning into an adolescent, it's best if you learn to weaponize your gender sooner rather than later."

"How do I do that?"

"That's what she'll teach you over the next couple weeks. She's a lazy old wench who couldn't go to the privy unless someone carried her on the way, but she can be trusted, so do everything she tells you to do as if she were me. Unless she tries to get you to do chores, if she does that tell her 'I can't, I'm too busy working for a living. We can't all make money by sitting in comfy chairs and drinking cheap wine.' And go back to whatever you were doing beforehand."

"Understood."

"One last thing. While you're learning, keep an ear out, pay attention to everything you hear being said. We're going to be investigating a murder, Ranger Herendel. Remember every conversation you hear involving her, and Governor Lorias."

* * *

Lorias had been sitting comfortably on his balcony overlooking Redmont town, admiring the the sight of the busy market district and clean streets below, even as the sun set on them. He took pride in his position at the head of the Empire's wealthiest city. It was a busy job, keeping the gears of civilization turning, but moments like these when he could simply sit on his balcony with a cup of wine in hand made it all worthwhile.

It was especially necessary after the stress one of the local Rangers had been causing him. Herenel had been good at her job, too good for her own well being. He had tried to warn her away, but a Ranger's arrogance knew no bounds. They always thought that simply because they answered to no one but the Emperor, that made them invincible. But everybody had their weak spots.

His peaceful moment of contemplation was interrupted when he heard a knock on his door. His serving boy no doubt. "It's open."

The boy entered and saluted him, "Sir, a letter for you."

Lorias recognized the seal on the letter immediately. _What is that dreadful pirate thinking, sending a letter via bird…_

Lorias quickly took it from his possession, "Yes, that'll be all, thank you!" He shooed the boy out before taking one quick look around his quarters, just to be safe. Ever since he heard the news of Ranger Kragen's return, he had been on edge. The dreadful man had always been an obstruction to him, fighting him on every little matter, digging into things that were better left alone. It was impossible for him to do anything when that man was in the city, and he had become paranoid that one of these days he would find him skulking around in his chambers when he least expected it.

Only when he was as sure as he could be that nobody was around, he opened the letter.

"To L. Cargo is at sea. Navigator predicts arrival in three weeks' time. Have payment ready up front. From M."

 _At least the pirate had the sense to not include any names and keep the details vague, in case the messenger bird had been intercepted._ He couldn't afford the Emperor, or anyone else for that matter, catching wind of what he was doing until he had begun. With the forces he had, he wouldn't be able to deal with the entire might of the Emperor's armies, assuming the Rangers didn't arrange an 'accident.'

He just needed three weeks...

* * *

"Oh sweetie, it's been too long," Madam Lutrice said when they first entered her quarters. She even went through the effort of standing up from her luxurious couch, and crouch to the girl's eye level, "You're a lot rougher than I remember. Oh Kragen, what are you doing? She looks like a boy with that short hair and stern edges. Is there even a chest there, I can't tell? And those vacant eyes..."

"Can you work with her or not?" Kragen grumbled

Lutrice looked up at him with an amused glint in her eye, "Oh honey, of course I can. But this will be much more difficult than I imagined…"

"Anything that's easy isn't worth doing. Besides, you owe me. Quite a few if my memory serves."

"You don't need to remind me. I haven't gone senile just yet," Lutrice grumbled, "So sweetie, how are you feeling? Do you think you could give me a smile?"

The girl shrugged, "I've never tried."

"Well why don't you give me your best so that I know what I'm working with. Go on, show me some teeth."

The girl nodded. Her face seemed to tremble for a bit before the edges of her mouth were able to force themselves upward, her lips parting to force the barely used facial muscles stretching to fit into place. The final result was a twisted, unnatural looking expression that was more terrifying than seductive.

"...We certainly have some work to do," Lutrice sighed

Seeing her distracted, Kragen turned to leave in order to avoid saying goodbye. The girl surely noticed him, but she knew his habit well enough to be silent. He might have gotten away with it, if he hadn't run into a certain someone at the doorway.

"Ranger Kragen! Leaving so soon? Should I show you out?" Ophelia stood in the doorway directly in his path wearing an elegant and long white dress, and as evident by its near-transparency, nothing else…

"I know the way," he said curtly

"Oh don't be rude, Kragen," Lutrice said from inside, "Just let the poor girl take care of you…"

 _That woman…_ Kragen thought bitterly, his eyes turning back to the girl in front of him, her wide 'innocent' eyes staring up at him, begging for attention like an adorable puppy, practically designed to appeal to a man's desire to protect, while the dress catered to every other desire. No doubt the old wench had told her all the tactics that appealed to him. "I don't need you."

It took more willpower than he had expected, but he was eventually able to force his way out of the building, leaving Ophelia standing at the doorway with a hurt expression

"Don't take it so personally, dearie," Lutrice comforted her, "Some men just don't know how to be honest with their desires. Maybe next time." The madam then turned her attention back to the child that had been left in her charge, "Sweetie, do you remember much about me?"

She shook her head. Lutrice had expected that. They'd only interacted once, only a couple weeks after Kragen had taken her on as his apprentice, years before their expedition into the snowy Picta region. During those early days, Kragen had refused to ever let her leave his side for anything, and refused to explain why. The girl was completely vacant at the time, always staring straight ahead, never speaking or doing anything unless Kragen told her to, never acknowledging the world around her. She looked as much like a corpse as one could without actually being dead. Not much had changed between then and now, though at least the girl seemed aware of her surroundings, as her ears perked up whenever someone speak and her eyes silently tracked people's movements. She looked less like a corpse and more like a snake, coiled up and ready to strike.

It was a marginal improvement at least.

"Did Kragen say anything about me?"

"He said that he trusted you, and that you were a lazy old wench who couldn't go to the privy without someone carrying her."

Lutrice grimaced, "Of course he did…" _With the amount of abuse I get from him, he's lucky I do anything he asks, debt or no._ "And did he tell you what we'll be doing?"

"I am an adolescent now. You are to teach me to weaponize feminine attributes."

"Aptly put. I hope you're prepared. Don't let an old woman's doting fool you, I intend to be a hard taskmaster," she warned, "Now why don't you go find a room you're comfortable with and get situated. You can come to me when you're ready to begin."

"I am currently at peak vitality. Now would be ideal."

 _Ah the energy of youth…_ "Very well, Ophelia," Lutrice got the other girl's attention, "This young one is Kragen's apprentice. I'm sure he would very much appreciate it if you helped with her training. For now, see if you can teach the sad girl how to smile."

* * *

Kragen didn't have time to waste in a brothel. Even if he did, he was far too old for the practice. At the moment, his mind was more occupied with the problem of Lorias and what he might have had to do with Ranger Herendel's murder.

Lorias had always been ambitious, but Kragen had been able to keep him in line when he served in the Redmont Province. They had never gotten along, but there was an understanding between them. Lorias may be clever enough to talk his way around his subordinates, but he knew not to test Kragen. He had built up a reputation over his decades of service of arranging 'accidents' for those he deemed dangerous to the Empire's interests, and Lorias was just pliable enough to know challenging him would not end well for him.

But a lot could change in a year, and he didn't know if the old tactics would still work on him. The fact that in his absence, Lorias had somehow mustered up the bravery to have a Ranger assassinated, was evidence enough that he would need to change up his tactics.

He also couldn't handle this the way he used to for more personal reasons. He couldn't risk the possibility of dying and leaving the girl uncared for. He would need to use more subtle tactics.

The girl would be training with Lutrice for the next two weeks. He had no intention of being idle during that time. By the time she returned, he intended to have a target in mind.

Which meant he needed to pay Djak a visit.


	5. Tarnished Beauty

Kragen looked over the house of the deceased Ranger Herendel. It was messy and unfocused, though he'd expected that. Herendel had never been known for her cleanliness. The apartment had been in the city, close to headquarters, as to be expected for an overseer of the area, and if it were anyone else he would have assumed the place had been ransacked

 _This will make finding clues a bit more difficult…_

Then he heard the click of a hand crossbow from behind him

"Who are you?" The girl demanded. She didn't shoot him right away, which gave him the opportunity to look over his shoulder. The girl was young, likely only a few years older than Shade, dressed in a Ranger's cloak.

"Someone who's about to ruin your day, if you don't put that down."

The girl glared, "I'm the one who has you cornered. Who are you and why are you-"

While she was in the middle of her sentence, Kragen grabbed the nearest heavy object he could get his hand on and threw it at her. She looked away to shield her face, and the crossbow went off, sending the bolt flying far away from him. With the weapon spent, Kragen ran into close range and ripped the small contraption out of her hand, smashing it across the face she seemed to care about so much.

"Hand crossbows are for mid range. You should have gone with the…" He paused as he saw her turning around sharply in his direction, "Knife."

The girl stabbed at him, and Kragen quickly stepped to the side, grabbing her hand by the wrist and tightening his grip while bringing his other hand to her shoulder and pushing her into the ground with her arm completely under his control, ready to break at a moment's notice.

"Now that we've cleared up your failure as a Ranger," Kragen chided her, "I believe it's time we got acquainted. You're Djak, Herendel's apprentice."

Djak struggled underneath his grip, and only succeeded in hurting herself, "How...do you know me?"

"Because I'm Kragen. I'm investigating Herendel's murder." He released his grip on her, letting the apprentice fall forward and hit her face on the ground

"Kragen?" Djak scrambled to her feet and watched him suspiciously, "Herendel told me about you...she said you were a monster."

"Before you start asking questions, I'll save us both some time. Whatever you've heard about me, most of it is true."

"Where's your apprentice then?"

"I left her in a brothel. She's learning seduction."

"W-What?!"

"Don't make that face. Herendel would have done the same if she knew anything about making full use of resources. She obviously didn't know what she was doing with you, if you've been an apprentice this long and can't even get a scratch on me. Mine's only been training for a few years and she can still get a hit on me on a good day. You're probably better off without her."

"If you hate my teacher so much, why are you trying to solve her murder?!"

"I hate almost everyone I save. I don't see why it should be different for an investigation. Besides, as commanding officers went, Herendel wasn't too bad."

"She said you were constantly acting against her orders and making decisions that horrified her."

"Yes, but it was easy enough to work with. She didn't put up much more resistance than a stern talking to when I was on the job, and I appreciated it. Now, I'm curious, are you interested in actually catching her killer or are you content to sit around talking about her. I'd rather have this taken care of within the next two weeks."

Djak glared but seemed to get the message well enough, "Where did you want to start?"

"How far have you gotten into your own investigation?"

"It all happened just a couple days ago. I was going to question the known gangs in the area and see if they knew anything. I figured they'd know something about any highwaymen."

"You'd be wasting your time. This wasn't highwaymen."

"But...how can you be so sure?"

"Intuition. We'd be better off taking a look at the body to give us an idea of what kind of person we're looking for."

* * *

"Hello there, sweetie."

"..."

"What's your name?"

"Shade."

"Well, Shade, what's a cute little thing like you doing in a place like this."

"Seducing you."

Kyle shook his head at Lutrice, "No good. She's got a convincing smile, but she's way too blunt. If anything, it's creepier to see this seemingly innocent smiling face spitting out words in complete monotone."

Lutrice sighed. It had taken Ophelia all of yesterday to get her to a state where she could smile convincingly if she put effort in, even if she was completely dead all other times. If it took a day just to get that, she didn't want to think how long it would take to cover the endless list of subtle nuances that came with voice work. "Thank you, Kyle, you can get back to your work." The guard nodded, going back to whatever door she had assigned him to guard. "Alright, Shade...it seems to me that the problem is you don't have full control over the full range of sound. You can't just stick to one tone the entire sentence, there needs to be fluctuations, rises and falls in pitch in order for it to sound human. Let's start with some vocal exercises. Repeat after me: Aay. Eee. Ai. Oh. Oo. Think you can manage that?"

"...Oh...oh, oh, oh, oh."

"No no no...Aay, eee, ai, oh, oo."

Hours passed as such, with no meaningful progress being made. The girl had complete lack of pitch control, always speaking in a steady and even monotone. It was unsettling the first time she had heard it and that hadn't changed a whole lot since. She had hoped that after breaking through the first hurdle of teaching her how to smile it would be easier from then on out, and as far as facial tactics went, it was. It had been difficult to teach her proper control of her facial muscles, but once she had the basics everything else had come surprisingly easy. Of course, she only ever faked a smile, but it was convincing enough and she had quickly picked up on the wider range of expressions. It had given her hope.

But it seemed that the voice would likely go down the same, arduous path.

"Alright, let's give that a break, for now. We'll start up again tomorrow morning," Lutrice sighed heavily, pouring herself another glass of wine and leaning back in her comfortable couch, "Why don't we work on your socializing? Talk to me. Tell me about yourself."

"I am an Apprentice Ranger. My master is Ranger Kragen. He calls me Shade."

"Yes, I know all that. Can you tell me anything else? Where are you from?"

"...I don't know."

"Well, that's something you and everyone else has in common," she said with a long sip of her wine. "The old dog hasn't let anything slip? Not even a single clue in all this time? Tell me honestly, girl."

She shook her head.

"Hmm, doesn't seem fair to me, keeping a secret like that from you."

"He's my master. He doesn't have to be fair."

"You must think really highly of him, don't you?"

The girl stopped for a moment, as if some great realization dawned on her and she was trying to figure out what it meant. That look of deep thought was the most expression she'd seen from her in two days, "...I suppose so."

"I would try to break out of that. That crow has a habit of letting people down when they depend on him."

"How would you know?"

"I have experience," she said bitterly, "Trust me on this. Kragen is the kind of man that destroys people. Everything he says, everything he does, all for his precious _mission._ No matter who he has to manipulate or tear down to do it." Lutrice paused when she heard her wine glass crack, and realized she might have gotten carried away, "...Sorry, I got swept up in the moment. Just trust me, girl, leave the moment you get the chance and don't look back."

"I cannot abandon my master. If I am to be cast aside, then that is my fate."

Lutrice grimaced, "You know you're not just a tool, right? You're a young girl with a future ahead of you, you can't talk about yourself like you're just...this thing."

"What is he to you?"

"What is he? Well...I suppose you would call us old friends."

"Even if you hate him?"

"...I don't hate him. I tried to, for so very long, but I don't...Kragen is who he is, there's no changing it." She took a reminiscent look out her window at the setting sun in the distance. Talking to the girl had suddenly made her introspective about her relationship with the old Ranger. Everything she said about him was true; he destroyed people, being in proximity of him was dangerous. Everyone who spent any extended amount of time close to him always either ended up dead, or wishing they were. Herself included, until she managed to get some distance. Nevertheless, she could never bring herself to hate him. Maybe deep down, she knew that she was indebted to him.

Or maybe because, no matter how much she did hate him, he would always hate himself more.

"Girl, when does Kragen typically have you go to sleep?"

"When all my work is finished."

"Go on and take a rest then, it's almost night and children your age need your sleep," she smiled, "We can start again in the morning." Lutrice expected the girl to go find a soft chair or bed or somewhere else that was comfortable to rest her head. Instead, she just sat against the wall closest to her and shut her eyes. Lutrice watched fascinated as her breathing slowly regulated itself until it found an easy pattern to maintain and her limbs began to relax, completely shutting down within thirty seconds, "Huh, never seen someone able to fall asleep on command before." She muttered to herself

There was a knock on the door as Ophelia peeked her head in, "Madam?"

"Come on in, girl. She's asleep."

Ophelia looked at the young one curiously, "I thought Rangers were supposed to be really light sleepers."

"I suppose she's identified that we're not threats," grinned Lutrice, "Or maybe she isn't sleeping at all. One can never really be certain."

"Oh...how was her lesson today?"

"The verbal part of her social skills is still lacking, though we were able to have a somewhat cordial chat. Poor dear."

"Still, she's quite adorable when she's asleep," said Ophelia, taking a look at Shade's sleeping form for a moment before jumping back

"What is it?"

"It's just...she's...crying…"

"She does that." Lutrice shook her head, "I found out last night. Apparently she cries in her sleep, and feels miserable when she wakes up. No idea why, and neither of them seem particularly interested in finding out."

"Oh…"

"You seem disappointed. What were you hoping to see?"

"Well...Shade always seems so tense and anxious when she's awake, but I heard people like that are supposed to be peaceful when they sleep," she lowered her voice to a whisper, "But instead...she just looks so sad…"

* * *

Herendel hadn't been someone you would call 'pretty.' It was a natural side-effect of their job that not very many people paid attention to. When your purpose in life is to fight, scrape, and claw through the enemies of the empire, beauty was bound to be tarnished. Every great fall, every time you took an arrow for a civilian, every beating, cut, and bash left its mark on you. It wasn't any surprise that by their middle years, soldiers and Rangers tended to have more scars than skin.

Seeing Herendel laid across the doctor's table, you could see her entire life displayed on her flesh. The cuts and bruises that never quite healed right. Kragen had been there for a few of them. He remembered the wound in her side by an arrow meant for him. He remembered the slash across her cheek when she let herself get hit, in order to close the distance on a bandit to deliver a more fatal blow to his throat. Others he could guess at their cause, and wonder at the story behind them, reading her flesh like an autobiography.

"So...now you're gone too," Kragen muttered, brushing her cheek, "Not many of us left now, from before. I suppose that's what happens when you get old. I can't help but wonder which one of us will be next...somehow I knew I would outlive you. All that self-sacrifice, you never could help but take on other people's problems. I didn't expect you to die to an ambush, though, that was a bit of a shock. Doesn't seem right, spending your life the way you did, just to die to some coward's blade. But when do things ever go the way they should?" He sighed, "I suppose this is farewell. I wish I could say we'll meet again, but...something tells me you're going somewhere I won't be able to follow. Don't worry though, I'll drag whoever did this down with me."

A harsh knock on the door interrupted his nostalgia, "Are you done in there?" Djak called. Kragen didn't reply, instead he opened the door to let the young apprentice in, "No idea why you wanted me to wait outside. So do you know what she died of?"

"Blunt force trauma to the back of the head," he told her

Djak appeared shocked, "Blunt force? Are you sure?"

"Surprised?"

"It's just...odd, hold on, let me see for myself," When she did, she just scowled at him, "That's a knife wound. A throwing knife wound."

"Hm, so it is."

"How do you mix up blunt and sharp wounds?"

"I guess I'm tired. It seems our killer was a professional."

"Where does that put us?"

"I looked through some of Herendel's things back at her apartment. A couple days before she died, she left a note for you saying that she was going to look into a gang a few days away from here. I did some cross referencing, and it seems that the most likely candidate is a group calling themselves the Red Blades."

"Why would she be going to them?"

"I hoped you would know. She really never clued you in on any of this?" Djak shook her head, "Hm, I suppose the only way to find out is to go to them ourselves."

"But their territory is a few days away. How are we supposed to get there?"

"You don't do a lot of walking, do you?"


	6. Among the Decadent

"A message for you, sir."

Lorias took a brief glimpse at the rolled sheet. Not a sealed letter, just an ordinary sheet of paper that anyone could get ahold of. That greatly narrowed down the list of agents that could have sent it. Unrolling it, his eyes quickly scanned its contents.

 _Kragen is heading to Red Blades. Suspects you. Unaware of assassin's identity. Has apprentice in the city, left with contact._

"Boy," He called back the servant, "Get a quill. I want a message sent to the captain of the guard. I want a search party sent to every place Kragen has visited since he entered Redmont."

* * *

Djak grimaced as she rubbed the soles of her feet, "I think I got blisters."

"I'm crying for you on the inside," Kragen responded while picking at the fire they'd set up, just off the side of the road. He had wanted to keep going through the night but the apprentice had whined so much he eventually had to give in. _I never realized how much Shade had been spoiling me. At least that one never talked._

Even when he agreed to stop, the girl still complained about having to camp on the side of the road when they'd passed a perfectly good town a couple miles back. Without even tents to sleep under to protect them from the elements, Kragen seemed perfectly content to just sleep on the dirt path.

"I'm starting to realize why people don't like you."

"People don't like me? Well that just breaks my heart."

"Have you ever thought that maybe if you talked to people like human beings and not just annoyances, you might actually have people who care about you?"

"Never occurred to me. If you're really upset about those blisters, you could try burning them off. We have a perfectly good fire going."

"Does your apprentice even like you?!"

"Never asked, though I'd be surprised if she did. Doesn't really matter one way or the other, a workman doesn't really concern himself with whether or not his tools enjoy being used by him. It's my job to patch up the holes that pop up in the Empire every now and then, it seems rather inefficient to ask my tools if they'd rather be doing something else." He cast an aside glance at her, "If you were a real Ranger, you'd understand that."

"Herendel never talked like that."

"That's cause she was never cut out for this. I told her more times than I could count that she should have been a diplomat, or a doctor."

"And you continue to insult her."

"Of course not, it's not an insult to say someone isn't cut out for a job where lying and killing is in the description," he responded sharply, "She was too kind for this line of work, too honest, too eager to save people. That's probably how she made you an apprentice. She found some street wretch so miserable that she couldn't help but take you under her wing, is that about accurate?" Djak glared at him, "Yeah, seems pretty accurate. Judging by your accent, I assume she picked you out of Celtica." The desert region of the south had been one of the first overtaken by the Araluen Empire during the Expansion Wars of 400 years ago. Ripe after decades of civil war, Araluen displayed particular brutality during that campaign unparallelled to their comparatively more organized sieges later on, devastating the already inhospitable landscape. Even centuries later, the land was a nesting ground of poverty with only a token voice in the senate, and to say the inhabitants were bitter would be an understatement. "Right, Herendel's heart always bled for your kind, part of the reason she should have gone into government, not espionage. Probably saw you and thought giving you a better life was the least she could do."

Djak avoided his gaze, "...You don't know me."

"I know enough. You know, you're not as unique as you probably think you are. No matter how miserable you think you're upbringing was before her, there's always _someone_ out there who's had it worse. Honestly, Herendel probably just wasted the effort on someone like you."

Djak stood up

"...Are you planning to actually do something?"

…

"Didn't think so. Sit back down, you need to rest, I don't want you dragging me down more than you already have."

"...I hate you."

"Charming."

* * *

Shade felt miserable when she woke up, but that was hardly anything new. For the moment she pushed the emotion aside and focused on getting a grasp on what was around her. She was alone in her immediate surroundings, that much she could tell just by instinct. Honing her hearing further, the tavern was mostly empty, save for the sound of a loud couple in the room behind the wall she was leaning against, and the clattering of dishes from outside her door as the morning waitresses cleaned up the messes made in the previous night. Overall, the building was mostly at peace.

Relatively assured of her safety, Shade sat up from her slouched position. Now with her vision restored, she was able to look around her surroundings. It seemed that the madam had left her the room. All of her things were where she had left them, nothing moved or disturbed, meaning she had made sure nobody had come in. The door was probably locked in that case.

She briefly paused to wipe her eyes, then got up without further hesitation and picked through the several hidden pockets in the dress the madam had provided for her knives. Once she had found the one she was most comfortable with, she got to work running through the independent training drills her master had taught her. Drills weren't as effective as sparring with someone, but it was better than nothing and it helped commit the movements to muscle memory and shave off a few nanoseconds of thinking during combat.

Just as she was beginning to work up a sweat, there was a loud knock on her door, " _Hello? I brought breakfast!"_

It was a male's voice. She recognized it from the day before. When Lutrice had her practicing verbal seduction techniques the previous day, she had brought in one of the men she had working as a guard to give his opinion. This one had been called Kyle.

Shade stopped just long enough to unlock the door before returning to her drills. Kyle nudged it open with his foot while holding a tray with two hands, and watched her curiously as she worked while he was setting the food on the bed, "Not bad form for a kid."

Shade didn't respond.

"The Ranger taught you that? Why?"

"So I can kill."

 _Ah, that charming directness._ "I see, makes sense," he said nodding, it made sense to him at least, who had grown up using a sword to earn his meals, "So why did he leave you here to learn from Lutrice's people?"

"So I can kill in other ways."

"I see. How do you typically kill people?"

"However I can."

"Pick a favorite."

"Knives. They're fast, small, easy to use."

"I'm more of a hammer person myself," he said, leaning against the doorframe casually, "Blades can't do anything against armor, but hamors destroy everything."

"But you have a short sword."

"Well yeah, that's cause we're in a small building, I can't do the big swinging arcs necessary for a hammer without hitting one of the girls. You don't bring a saw to pull out a nail. Just out of curiosity, how would you kill someone bigger than you?"

"Stab them somewhere vital."

"What about me? My reach is a lot further than yours, not to mention I'm stronger."

Shade looked over him, "I'd get really close, and then stab you somewhere vital." She looked carefully at the various parts of the body, "Your right leg has an old injury that causes you to favor your left. I would probably take advantage of that."

Kyle chuckled to himself. _This kid is talking like a pro. Imperial Guard never taught me that at her age. If this is how Rangers train as kids, it's no wonder they all grow up to be so incredible._ "How long have you been practicing to be a Ranger?"

"As long as I can remember."

"And how long is that?"

"A few years."

"A few years?" Kyle scratched his head, "You look around twelve to me. You've definitely lived longer than a few years."

"That's as far as I can remember."

"Huh," Kyle had seen his fair share of traumatized kids working for the Imperial Guard, but this was the first time he'd seen someone put an actual mental block on what happened. He'd heard about it, of course, but seeing it in person was a bit jarring. _I can't help but feel a bit bad for the tyke, even if she could and probably has skinned people._ "So you're just going to be a Ranger? No other ambitions."

"No."

"Can you say that in eight words or more?"

She looked at him, "Why?"

"Humor me."

"...I have no plans beyond becoming a Ranger."

 _Maybe next time we can do ten._ "Sounds like a pretty sorry existence."

"I have a purpose."

"People don't exist to have a purpose," Kyle laughed, "You gotta find what you _want_ to do, something you would have fun doing, and then just go and do it. That's how you live."

"...Ranger's aren't supposed to think like that."

"Well then who would ever want to be a Ranger?"

He couldn't tell how much of what he said was getting through to the kid. The cute little smile that she put up when talking to him before never even hinted at making an appearance while she wasn't making an active effort, instead staying frozen in this passionless stare. While this was less unsettling, since the face and voice tone actually matched up this way, it still made it hard to get a read on the girl's mindset. Still, the complete silence emitting from her as she continued to go through her drills had to mean something, right?

Before he could answer his own question, there was a soft tapping on the doorframe, "Dearie," the madam called to Shade, "Could you be a peach and run up to the market for me? I need you to run a few errands for me…"

Shade calmly set her knife aside, walked up to the door, and looked her dead in the eye with such chilling seriousness that Lutrice felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on edge.

"I can't, I'm too busy working for a living. We can't all make money by sitting in comfy chairs and drinking cheap wine."

"Wha-"

Shade slammed the door right in her face and went right back to her knife practice, leaving a dazed Lutrice to wearily take a step back and zombie-walk her way back to her comfy chair.

 _Is...she mad at me?_

* * *

The Red Blades weren't a particularly imaginative bunch. As far as an organized group of bandits went they were fairly standard. The only really interesting thing about them was that, in five years, they were still around. Most of that was thanks to Kragen; back when he kept the peace in Redmont, he was able to form a certain agreement with the bandit gang.

It was a rather simple agreement. The Red Blades kept the peace on the street level, towns under their protection were as safe as they were ever going to get, and no other gangs of more chaotic nature dared come out and start causing trouble. If that meant turning a blind eye to their smuggling and gambling operations than that was a fair price to pay for peace. Most people would disagree if they knew, but they weren't Rangers.

Of course, that was the Red Blades before he left. Over the time, it seemed safe to say that their agreement had expired in his absence.

"Kragen," Joblok said as he stared at the two of them from across his table, sharpening his blade. It hadn't been difficult to find them when you knew their territory. The Red Blades did most of their operations in the forests where people were less likely to stumble onto them, in small tent villages set up for them to live in. All they had to do was walk around the forest for a bit before they were intercepted and brought to one such tent village and set up in the leader's own personal pavillion. "I thought we were pals. Then you go and abandon us out here, and what happens? You knew that wench of a Ranger wouldn't leave us alone, the least you could do was warn us!"

"Herendel," Djak said sharply

Joblok glared at her, "You let all your apprentices butt in like that, Kragen?"

Kragen hadn't exactly been expecting a warm welcome from the gang after his sudden relocation. When he was making preparations to leave, he had genuinely forgotten about the small group. He was a busy man after all, it wasn't until he was halfway across the continent that he remembered him, and at the time thought he would be fine just letting Herendel deal with it instead of him.

"Sorry, I guess I overestimated how tough you were. I'll make sure she minds your feelings in the future," He replied dryly, "I came here for information."

"What kind?" said Joblok. _Still willing to talk with me, then. That's a relief, it would have been a lot more troublesome to have to find this guy alone._

"That Ranger you mentioned, Herendel. It's my understanding she came to meet with you."

"I can't seem to recall."

"It's good to see your lying hasn't improved," said Kragen, "She came to you because she wanted to know something. I want to know what you told her."

Joblok hmm'd as he sat further bag on his log-chair, "Hmm...well, once upon a time I might have told you, but seeing as how our arrangement isn't valid anymore…"

"Name your price."

Joblok grinned, "You always had such a way with words, I liked that about you," he said before his face fell into the calm, business demeanor of someone used to conducting a small gang. His eyes studied Kragen closely, then looked between him and Djak beside him, before settling on him once more, "The girl."

"What?!" Djak shouted while Kragen replied much more calmly, "That's it?"

"Imperial Guard has been moving in on our operations, choking the life out of us, it's been impossible to do anything and the boys have been getting antsy. I need to give them something to tide them over until an opening comes," he grinned

Djak glowered at him, "How dare you-"

"Deal."

Her head instantly turned to him, utter shock written on her features, followed by anger as arms began grabbing at her, "Kragen! What do you think you're doing! We're supposed to be partners!" Kragen looked straight ahead at Joblok as they forced her out of the tent, kicking and screaming the entire way, " _Kragen!"_

"I forgot how much I liked you," Joblok mused, "You're not afraid to be a complete monster."

"The information," Kragen replied passionless as the screams of accusations and pleas went further into the distance

"Right," Joblok took a moment to steady his thoughts, "Herendel was here alright. I never thought I'd see the day, after all the time she spent driving our people out of the towns, but I guess I can't blame her for being spooked given the circumstances. We made a deal, she wanted some information in exchange for a chest of gold. We were pinching coppers at the time, so I took the deal flat. Not the best long-term decision, looking back, but we were running thin. Imperial Guard has been tearing at us like savage dogs."

"Why is that?"

"That's part of why Herendel figured we'd know what was going on. I'm assuming you know Governor Lorias."

"Obviously."

"Well, you see he's had it in for us for the past few months, ever since we turned down _his_ little offer. He's been trying to build up troops, and he hasn't been too scrupulous about where they come from. Way more than is necessary to run a simple, peaceful province in the heart of the Empire. Now I'm no Ranger, but it seemed to me like he was planning something that would shatter the foundations, and, well, I don't want none of that. A peaceful Empire leads to lazy guards, and that's how I like it. So I turned the governor down flat, but you know he hasn't given up. He'll get his troops somehow."

"Where?"

"No idea. Herendel seemed to know, at least she looked like she did. Her face lit up like she was having a grand realization when I told her about Lorias' plan to build up soldiers."

"Hmm, I don't suppose you have any idea who killed her. She _was_ killed while coming back from your camp."

"None of mine, our business was done and she paid well. You already know it was Lorias. Obviously hired a professional to do it, someone she would have known well. You'd want to start asking her acquaintances. I'd find her apprentice, they'd probably know who she was hanging around with."

"You'd think so. It would make sense, master and apprentice typically never have secrets between each other without a really good reason."

"I'd find the apprentice next, then, wherever the tyke may be" he said obliviously, "That's all I got for you, I'm afraid. Maybe once you're done sorting out Lorias, you could convince the Imperials to-"

There were sounds of shouting and running footsteps somewhere in the camp, and Joblok looked up irritably, wondering what kind of mess his inferiors might have made that caused so much commotion, "I suppose you might as well leave. _Our_ business is done," he said, standing up from his log and walking outside.

Outside, Djak ran as fast as she could in whatever direction she could spot, heart pumping faster than she'd ever felt it go before and gripping the bloody knife in her hand as if it were her only lifeline. Just as she spotted a potential path, yet another bandit came right in her path and swung at her. Djak staggered from the blow as he grabbed forcibly onto her arm hard enough to bruise, and in desperation she turned, stabbing her knife into his throat. She had to push him in order to get his carcass to let go of her arm, but in that wasted time her pursuers, sporting nasty scars of their own, finally caught up to her and grabbed her from multiple sides.

" _Get off me, you...you ogres!"_

She screamed at them, and received a blow across the face for her trouble as they threw her onto the ground. "Little brat!" They spat on her

"Can't you handle one little girl?!" Joblok shouted from his tent, before arms reached from behind him, pressing a knife against his neck, "Wha-"

" _Call them off."_

"But...we had a deal!" Joblok shouted, his voice catching the attention of the rest of the group, and they all froze as they saw their leader caught helplessly under the Ranger's blade.

"That was two minutes ago, keep up," he said calmly, "Now tell them to let her go." Joblok looked at his group, who were all staring at him and the Ranger behind him, "I know what you're thinking. You're trying to figure out a way in which you get out of this alive, some way you can outsmart me and get your men to take us both down. You're wasting your time, cause the only way you survive is if you do exactly as I say. Anything else, and I slice your throat. Your men will probably kill us afterwards, probably, but you will _definitely_ die first. So it comes down to which is more important to you: us dying, or you living."

"...Let her go!"

Djak shakily got back on her feet, holding onto a tent to steady herself and keeping a sharp eye on the bandits, walking backward cautiously before breaking out into a full sprint toward freedom. Kragen followed soon after, carrying the bandit leader with him.

He met up with Djak again once he was outside the camp's perimeter, leaning against a tree and breathing heavily, "You alright?" He asked, his voice making her jump before she realized who he was, and meekly nodding

"You're making a mistake, Kragen," Joblok snarled at him, "We could have worked together, just like the good old days! What's all this for, for her?!"

"In truth, I was just never all that fond of you."

Joblok spit, "You'll regret this! Both of you! I'll find you-"

With a clean swipe, Kraggen opened up his throat and let his blood flow onto the ground as his corpse followed swiftly, "No, you won't."

Djak looked at the body with absolute contempt and began kicking it, "You _monster!_ You evil, evil, evil monster!"

"Stop that," Kragen grabbed her by the arm and jerked her toward the road, "He's not feeling that. We need to be on the road before they realize their boss isn't coming back."

* * *

Djak's hands were still trembling when they made camp less than an hour later on the road. She'd protested at first, wanting to get as much distance as possible, but Kragen had assured her that they wouldn't get any more trouble from the outlaws.

"Red Blades are many things, but they're not stupid. They won't cause trouble on the roads."

He was probably right. Still, she couldn't help but watch the forest warily

"Here," Kragen said, forcing a cup of coffee into her hand, brewed from the fire he set up, "It'll calm your nerves."

"T-Thanks…" She said, taking a nervous sip, "That...that was your plan from the start, right? You were going to kill him…"

"You can think that, if you want."

She had been in the middle of another, longer sip when he responded, "Wait...what do you mean by that?!"

"Exactly as it sounds."

"Don't you realize what they could have done?!"

"I have a pretty good idea," he said calmly, "They didn't have time to actually do anything, did they?"

"Well, no...but…"

"Then drink your coffee and shut up about it."

Djak sat back and drank as he had said, and a silence fell between them until she spoke up again, "Would...would you have done something like that with Herendel? Or Shade?"

"Who's Shade?"

Djak looked at him oddly, "Your...apprentice?"

"Where'd you hear that?"

"From you…"

"No, I'm pretty sure I didn't ever mention her name," his steely gaze fell on her, and suddenly she felt much more scared than she was before, "So...where did you hear it from?"

…

"Actually, I take that back, it's not really an important question," he redacted himself, "I suppose a better question would be, why did you kill Herendel?"

Djak quickly stood up, her hand falling on her knife, "I...how…"

"How did I know? Well, you tipped me off from the start. It seemed odd right from the beginning that Herendel would do _anything_ without her apprentice knowing about it in case something happened to her, unless she had an active reason to not trust her apprentice, and I learned a long time ago that it was usually a good idea to go off of her gut. Then when I 'slipped up' and mentioned her being bashed to death, you corrected me almost instantly, almost like you already knew what she had died from ahead of time and was wondering how I could have gotten it wrong. So I had you marked as prime suspect from the start, though the chat with Joblok helped me fill in a few blanks."

Djak unsheathed her knife

"Hm? Ah, you want to kill me too. Well, you can give it your best shot, but I have a feeling you'll have a hard time aiming." He said, gesturing with his eyes to the coffee

Suddenly, Djak started feeling incredibly uneasy, and fell on the ground coughing, "You...poisoned me…"

"It should be taking effect right about now," Kragen said, standing up and walking over to her, "There are certain drugs that, when taken, dull the nervous system and make your senses less sensitive to outside stimuli, we use it to numb pain from bad wounds. That stuff running through your system is the opposite; the substance you drank causes your nerves to go on overdrive, feeling everything more extremely than it was ever meant to, causing extreme amounts of pain from even minor things, like wind and sand. A shame that today seems to be a fairly windy day. The effect is a state of constant, extreme, and unbearable pain, until your brain eventually shuts down and you go into shock. You have about 10 minutes left to live, but it'll be a very long ten minutes, unless…"

He took a small phial of liquid from his cloak and dangled it tauntingly over her head

"You...you want to know...what Lorias is planning…"

"You catch on quick. I'd hurry if I were you, before speech becomes too hard."

"He...he's planning a secession...make Redmont...it's own nation...where he rules...separate from the Empire...free...from the Empire…"

"And he needed soldiers to do it," Kragen nodded, "The old fool is even stupider than I thought. Even if he _could_ get an army, what made him think he would be able to stand against the full force of the Imperial Army? We were able to conquer the bloody continent, and that was _before_ modern technology and tactics."

Djak laughed, "The Empire...would have its work cut out for them...he's bringing in foreigners...a foreign legion...pirates and mercenaries, from across the sea…"

"Well, I suppose I'll have to stop them too then," he said, "Just one last question. My first question, actually. Why did _you_ kill Herendel? She brought you out of poverty, gave you a life as a Ranger, what more could you want?"

Djak closed her eyes, and for a moment, he might have said she even looked remorseful, "...And what...life is that? Working...for the Empire that conquered my homeland...subjugated us...for 400 years...A Ranger's life isn't any life at all...there's no joy in it, no happiness...no security," She laughed bitterly, "Lorias...would have made me his wife…"

"You actually wanted to marry that idiot?"

"No...I wanted to marry a _governor_...I could have been a governor's wife...I'd finally be out of that squalor...I'd finally...be free…"

"So, nobility was worth Herendel's life," Kragen shook his head, "Herendel ended the Picta Rebellion without a drop of blood. She traveled across the sea. She saved my life. She carried the sorrow of everyone she ever came across, and she did it all smiling. And you know the best part, despite everything, she'd probably _forgive_ you." He glared at the pathetic creature lying on the ground, " _That's_ who you killed for nobility."

Djak reached up to him, pleading, " _...Please…"_

Kragen dropped the phial on the ground, "Take your reward."

Djak scrambled for the phial desperately and emptied its content down her throat as fast as she could, hope appearing on her face...before quickly turning to more pain, confusion, anger, and then finally despair, "This...this is just water!"

"So it is."

"But...you said she would…"

"Forgive you? You're right, she would. There's just one problem with that...I'm not Herendel."

Djak's head fell back as the poison entered its next stage, and she began laughing deliriously, " _Heh...ha...ha...fine then...the...THE BOTH OF YOU...CAN ROT IN HELL!"_

Kragen raised an eyebrow at her, "Both of us?"

" _Heh...so clever...can't even...see it…"_ She laughed, " _That...stupid little brat...that stupid brothel...you think...you could keep her safe,"_ Realization quickly dawned on Kragen, and it showed on his face, " _That's right...you can...YOU CAN BOTH JUST DIE! DIE! HA!"_

She continued ranting even as he broke out running across the road, a full sprint, as fast he could and leaving Djak ranting on the ground as madness consumed her.


	7. Assault on Paradise

It was a slow day at the Red Tiger. Despite the momentary drop in monetary intake, few people actually minded a little drop in business every now and then. Days like these came around once every week or so and it gave the workers a chance to rest up. It may sound odd considering the profession, but the times they were actually able to rest their eyes were pretty rare.

Given the decreased risk of having an incident, Lutrice had decided it was safe enough for Shade to be allowed to walk around in the open. She got an odd look from the two patrons that hung around, but they didn't make any kind of scene. Most people who came on days like these weren't interested in any kind of fuss. Just a quiet place to drink in peace and maybe contemplate their empty existence.

It was one of those quiet days.

"Have you ever had a drink, Shade?" Ophelia asked absentmindedly while wiping the countertop

"Once."

"Really? When?"

"A couple years ago. My master believed it was an important experience in order to understand the full effects of alcohol on the body and how it can be exploited."

"Why would he want you to know that?"

"It might be useful."

"Huh, he's way cooler than my father was. Before he died," Ophelia left the last bit in the open and waited for some sort of reply. Shade, in response, stared at her blankly. "...You're not curious?"

"No."

"...He died in a fire."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...You don't talk much, do you?"

"No."

"Does Kragen ever talk to you?"

"When necessary."

"Has he been talking about anyone in particular? Someone special?"

"No."

Ophelia winced, "You...don't want to think about it? Maybe you just missed something…"

"He has not talked about anyone having special importance to him. I am certain."

"Oh...well, I'm sure he has a lot on his mind, being a Ranger and all. You know, it's really cool that you're going to be a Ranger. I wish I could do something like that, they seem so awesome. Is it true that you guys can tell someone is lying just by looking at them?"

"I'd rather not talk about it," Kragen had told Shade that in instances such as this when someone begins asking about her abilities, or Rangers in general, she should be as vague as possible. Kept enemies guessing as to what her actual abilities were, or at least that's how he put it.

"That's so cool," Ophelia seemed impressed anyway, "Geez, I can't believe I'm jealous of someone a decade younger than me…"

"You're in your twenties?"

"Of course I am! Couldn't you tell?"

"No."

Ophelia looked like she was about to break down crying at the utterance of that one single-syllable word if it hadn't been for the sudden shouting at the front door

" _Imperial Guard! Open this door!"_

Every head was trained on the front door. In a single moment, the peaceful calm that had been held over them had malformed into a different kind of quiet. It was now the calm that heralded the storm. The dread that came over people when they were forced to look ahead and see an uncertain future, the only certainty being that whatever happened, it would end up with them being hurt in some way. In that moment of quiet, Kyle had been the only one remotely close to the door, and so the unspoken responsibility fell to him to walk across the creaky wooden boards and open the door.

"Can I help you?"

The guard pushed the door wide open the moment the knob had turned revealing no less than five guards fully geared with shields bearing the symbol of the Araluen Empire, some wielded swords and others wielded spears, and all of them covered in the bright and intimidating armor of Imperial soldiers.

"We have received word that this establishment his harboring a fugitive. Step aside, civilian."

"I need confirmation from my boss before I let any uniforms inside," said Kyle, "You'll just have to wait here."

"I was not making a request."

"Neither was I. This is a respectable, and private, business. Under the Imperial Bill of Rights-"

"This is an investigation, therefor all rights are to be revoked as deemed necessary. Now step aside," Shade noticed the soldier's hand drift to rest on the hilt of his blade. Kyle noticed as well, and responded in kind

"Under whose authority?"

"In the name of the Emperor, and under orders from Governor Lorias."

Shade's ears perked up at the name as she remembered something Kragen had said. " _Remember every conversation you hear involving Herendel, and Governor Lorias."_

 _If he suspected Lorias of something, and that same man sent guards here…_

Shade grabbed Ophelia by the hand and pulled her ear down to her to whisper, "I can't be here."

Without a word, Ophelia grabbed her and led her toward one of the back rooms. She moved so smoothly that they might have been able to get away with it if one of the patrons hadn't stood up to get out of their way, drawing the attention of the guard at the door.

"Hold it! That's her!" He pushed forward, but found Kyle standing in his way, "Move aside! You are harboring a criminal!"

"You know I used to wear shiny armor like that," said Kyle with his hand gripped firmly around his sword, "It really is cumbersome stuff. Good when moving in a team, but when your buddies can't reach you because your worthless hide is blocking the door, well…"

The guard stared intently at the sellsword, "There's five of us and one of you. Are you really going to kill yourself over a girl?"

"Kill myself? Nah. But I might kill you."

Kyle drew his sword the moment he saw the guard's arm flinch toward his, slicing him across the under part of his shoulder, right across a gap in his armor. Ordinarily, there would be a bronze plate to prevent such a strike, but anyone who had worn Imperial armor before knew that the strap on that plate dug into the skin creating an irritating rash and most guards decided to go without it during their day-to-day patrols. It was such a small gap anyway that nobody would really notice it.

Unless they already knew about it.

With that single slice, Kyle disabled the guard's arm, leaving him unable to defend himself when he coordinated a second slice across his throat, opening his airway and allowing blood to flood in. With his free hand, he pushed him to the side, letting him lie on the ground to choke on his own blood so the sellsword could deal with the four other problems sitting at his door, all with their weapons already drawn and aimed directly at him.

"This won't be easy…"

Shade and Ophelia could hear the ensuing fight from the relative safety of the back room that the working girl had brought them into. "You can hide here," Shade wasn't sure where she was referring to until she broke off a detachable piece of the wall, revealing a small human-sized hole, "The Madam had this installed to hide friends in trouble."

Shade nodded and crawled into the small container, "Where will you be?"

"I'll wait out here until Kyle is finished."

"What if he doesn't win?" That thought had to have occurred to her, otherwise she wouldn't have bothered putting Shade in the hiding compartment

Ophelia just smiled, "...They won't kill me."

Before Shade could inquire further, Ophelia placed the piece of wall back over her, encasing the young Ranger in darkness. In that moment, the small compartment became her entire world. She couldn't see anything out of it, and she could barely see what was in it. If she pressed her ear against the slab, she could hear the sound of clanging steel in the background as Ophelia breathed heavily. The girl had forced her breathing down to a steady pace, and it showed with the occasionally irregular lapses of panic, as well as the small gasps whenever the sound of steel striking flesh and the resulting cries occurred.

Then as suddenly as it began, the fighting stopped.

And heavy footsteps made their way toward her door.

The door was kicked open with a loud crash, and Shade could hear three sets of armored feet make their way inside.

"W-Where's Kyle?!"

"We're not obligated to say. Where'd the girl go?"

"I...she left! She ran away, I don't know where! She's gone!"

"I don't see any windows, how'd she manage to get out of here?"

"She's a Ranger, of course she would have magic or something!"

"Hold on, Ranger?" Some other soldier cut in, "Captain, the governor didn't mention anything about a Ranger. Don't they outrank him?"

"She's lying," said the captain

"But what if she isn't? If Rangers are involved, they're our superiors-"

"You want to know how to live a long life, rookie? Do as you're commanded and don't ask questions," The captain seemed to finally turn the conversation back to Ophelia, "She didn't use magic to get out of here. You know something."

"I don't-"

Shade flinched at the sound of the heavy bronze gauntlet smashing against Ophelia's face as she shrieked in pain, "I don't like liars."

"I wasn't...I wouldn't…" She screamed again as more strikes came down on her

"I especially don't like persistent liars."

Ophelia cried, "I...can't tell you what...I don't know…"

"Hold her down."

Shade felt herself retreating inward as Ophelia's tearful screams announced her pain. She could hear her cries resonating in her skull and burrowing into her mind. _I've heard this sound before...but where…_ As they went on, Shade felt something root itself in the pit of her stomach, her heart began to beat at a painfully rapid pace as that root twisted around inside, seemingly tearing her apart. Suddenly she couldn't stop thinking about the past few days and the time she had spent in this place. Ophelia's kind and somewhat hyper tutelage, the way Kyle treated her like a true equal, Lutrice's often failed attempts at being some sort of motherly figure. The small, insignificant memories forced themselves into her consciousness and she felt the dire need to _do something._

 _I see...is this what a 'conscience' feels like?_

Shade had heard about 'conscience' before, but never thought she would have felt it herself. Her master had described it. He had called it "a person's inner sense of right and wrong based on previous experience and the unpredictable 'human element' which caused people to act in ways they wouldn't typically." The ability to ignore one's conscience in favor of the practical option was supposed to be what made Rangers so deadly. Her master would tell her that hiding was the more logical decision, but he would also be scolding her for ever allowing the situation to become this dire. He would have convinced them to leave, or laid some sort of trap and killed them before they ever became a threat to his allies. He would not be pleased with her progress so far. Shade was supposed to be a deadly Ranger.

 _A deadly Ranger should be able to do something about this._

She didn't know what her plan was when she pushed open the hidden door and forced her way out into the gruesome display of cruelty. When she came out they were distracted by Ophelia, and without a plan Shade fell back on her instincts. Reaching into the hidden pockets of her dress, she gripped her knife and rushed the nearest guardsmen, cutting at his throat. She managed to get a scratch, but he withdrew the moment she came into range and the strike was just shy of lethal. To make matters worse, she now had the undivided attention of all three of them.

She tried to throw her knife, but the guard raised his arm and the blade deflected off of his shoulder armor. Suddenly she realized she was being faced with three heavily armored opponents who were clearly bigger and stronger than herself. And she had just thrown her weapon.

 _I'm outmatched. Even he wouldn't be able to handle this. Not without a plan_

Shade moved back carefully as they closed in on her, and her foot hit the edge of the doorframe. It was then she realized there was a perfectly valid escape route behind her. Shade eyed the soldiers in front of her, and spotted Ophelia behind them, beaten and bruised and silently screaming with her eyes for her to run.

So she did.

* * *

Kragen had just missed them.

Evidence of a fight was obvious before he'd even entered. A crown had amassed outside the doorway, onlookers watching the scene as a distraction from their own monotonous lives. Pushing through the thin layer of bystanders he continuously scanned the room for any clue of what transpired.

In the doorway, he saw the aftermath of what must have been the first encounter. Lying in the door frame was one of Lutrice's sellswords, his body kicked to the side with a spear lodged in his side, blood spilling from his mouth. Given the shocked gaze that had frozen onto his face, he had lived just long enough to realize how undignified is death was before he lost consciousness. Killed in a brothel by an underpaid uniform with a spear. It wasn't anything dramatic as far as last stand's went, no prolonged combat wearing him down over a thousand cuts. Just one clean strike with a spear to some unarmored region, and he was done. At least he had managed to take two down with him before they overcame him.

 _Patrols operate in teams of five. If he killed two of them before dying himself, that means Shade would have had three to deal with._

Then his ears picked up the sound of crying from one of the back rooms. Moving on from the bodies he hurried his pace. The building was empty, any guests had long moved on, and all that was left were the workers gathered in the one room. When he first entered he had to push his way past a few before seeing the reason they had all gathered.

The soft tears he had heard were Ophelia's. Sitting on the couch, she wept almost silently as her friends gathered around her in a form of quiet comfort. The signs of abuse were obvious. Her youthful face had been scarred almost beyond recognition, peeled skin and cuts and bruises covered her. Even at a glance, it was obvious that the damage had been done. What had been broken would never properly heal.

"They came for her," Lutrice said when he walked in while Ophelia kept her head down, hiding the worst of the marks from him in a pointless effort to save her pride

"Where did they go?"

The girl's voice trembled as she forced out the words, "I...she ran, and…"

"I need details, what happened?"

"...I...told her to hide, but...she ran out, and attacked them...then she ran out the door, I don't know where…"

He turned on his heel

"Kragen," Lutrice called him with ice in her voice, "Where is she going?"

"Where anyone goes for a desperate final stand."


End file.
